Monday 15 April 2013

Day-night-long campaign ends with 10,000-people ceramah


P.140 Segamat (13th General Election on May 5, 2013)
46,262 (20,093/43.43% Malays; 21,393/46.24% Chinese; 4,641/10.03% Indians)
Vote for Change, for our children’s future
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Day-night-long campaign ends with 10,000-people ceramah

Chua greeting Sunday morning bak kut teh lovers where he also had his breakfast.

SEGAMAT (April 14, 2013): It was a pulsating Day 5 of walkabouts today for Chua Jui Meng but a rewarding one.
The campaigning pace was punishing and energy-sapping, ending with a 10,000-people PAS ceramah in Kampung Abdullah at midnight.
The Johor PKR chairman who is also a PKR vice-president is contesting the P.140 Segamat parliamentary seat for the first time and he is not taking anything for granted.
Although the majority of the people here seem to be able to identify or recognise him in the past four days and nights of walkabouts because he was a former health minister and Bakri MP for five successive terms, Chua said he must still shake as many hands of people until May 5.
“Nothing can replace the warm handshakes in the walkabouts with the people,” he added.
Chua and his team of campaigners and supporters, including those from the DAP, kicked off their campaign trail at 9am with a bak kut teh breakfast at a stall on Jalan Buloh Kasap.

Say cheese … an enthusiastic woman voter who seized the opportunity for a picture with Chua.

After breakfast and two rounds of handshakes at 9.45am, Chua and his team headed for Taman Utama’s Restoran Ciu Zau Bak Kut Teh, Restoran Win Lai Jaya (dim sum), Coffee Corner, Restoran Nasir Corner and The Bean Café.
They then spent three hours walking in and out of coffee shops and food courts in Kampung Abdullah, and distributing flyers.
After lunch at 2pm, Chua held a Campaign Team strategy meeting until 3.30pm.
Chua then headed for Jementah  for walkabouts at coffee shops and to inspect the storm-hit town where three houses were damaged in separate falling trees.
Chua and his team also covered the town’s Pasar Malam trail for two hours before returning to a home stay in Segamat at 7.30pm for a rest.

The mammoth crowd that filled two thirds of a football field.

At 9pm, Chua was pleasantly surprised by a crowd that occupied two-thirds of a football field at a ceramah in Kampung Abdullah organised PAS.
In his address, Chua said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s “R U Ready For BN” blunder in Penang made him looked like a fool.
“He will be BN and Umno’s last prime minister after May 5,” he said to a crowd that roared and clapped with approval.
Chua said he joined PKR in 2009 after Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim convinced him join in the struggle.
“I did not join PKR for position. I joined to help bring about positive change for the people.
“The PR government will prioritise the people’s welfare, not cronies like what BN has been doing the past 55 years,” he added.
“When Anwar convinced me to take up the challenge to build up PKR in Johor in 2010, I hesitated. But he (Anwar) managed to convince me,” he added.
“Umno then made stupid statements claiming that I will be Johor MB if PR wins the mandate! How stupid can they be?
“The state constitution allows only Malays to be appointed a Mentri Besar. Am I a Malay?”
Chua said PR’s election manifesto was one that “loves the rakyat” and being a Muar-born, “I am able to understand and relate to the woes of Johoreans.
“The manifesto contains many fiscal measures aimed at poverty eradication. Poverty must be eradicated at all cost,” he added.
Chua said: “If I am elected, I will serve Segamat with the same principle as when I was Health Minister for nine years.
“That principle is to love our patients and to be tender to them. This means I pledge to serve my constituents with love and teder care,” he added.
Chua said he wished to thank the people of Segamat for accepting him as their potential elected representative.
“I will surely not let the people of Segamat down by bringing about positive change with a clean administration,” Chua said.